Completely separate from the President’s announcement on troop withdrawals in Afghanistan, a major political crisis sparked in that country, suggesting that we have something less than a partner for stability.

A political crisis erupted in the Afghan capital over the weekend after a special investigative court found that 62 legislators had won their seats by fraud last year and ordered them removed from parliament. The legislators vowed to remain and threatened to stage street protests, while a majority of sympathetic lawmakers voted to fire the attorney general and six Supreme Court justices.

“This is like the revolution in Tunisia,” declared Hafiz Mansour, a lawmaker disqualified by the tribunal, which was convened by President Hamid Karzai. “Mr. Karzai wants to show he can do whatever he wants, even if it violates the law and the constitution. Instead, he has brought the entire parliament together against him. We are not leaving.”

So Karzai has no support from even the political class in Kabul, and opposition lawmakers believe compellingly that they are being railroaded out of Parliament. Karzai’s remaining defenders claim that the opposition came into power through ballot-stuffing and other illegal means, which is quite something for backers of Hamid Karzai to say.

Wherever the truth lies, consider the situation. A top investigative court found mass fraud in elections, disqualifying 62 elected officials. The officials retaliated by refusing to leave, and their backers in Parliament tried to fire the Attorney General and a majority of the Supreme Court. Neither side is backing down, and dueling street protests can be expected. Some of the lawmakers “set up armed compounds near the parliament,” according to one former legislator. The word “impeachment” has been bandied about with respect to Karzai.

This is happening inside a government in a war zone. We have 100,000 troops in that country at the moment, fighting to hold and build towns and villages and a security apparatus loyal to the Afghan government. But the Afghan government doesn’t meaningfully exist, or at least is in serious question, based on these developments.

Current US Ambassador Karl Eikenberry said that the crisis was “ultimately for the Afghan people to resolve,” but it clearly has implications for US involvement. If the government implodes, it just adds another layer of questioning as to what the hell we’re doing with 100,000 troops in that country. Calls to accelerate the withdrawal even further will result. The President affirmatively said in his speech last week that nation-building must begin at home. Perhaps this crisis will make those promises even more acute.

Given the psyche of Americans’ responses to “losing”, the more the failure the tighter the military will cling to trying to make it a success. We are dealing with a general staff that experienced Vietnam but bought into the mythology and never learned the lessons of what happened in Vietnam. Obama’s too young to know himself but depends on advisers and conventional wisdom about what happened in Vietnam.

Chaos is likely to delay rather than accelerate US withdrawal.

But this seems to be the first outbreak of the Afghan government and political class coming to terms with the fact that the US really does intend to withdraw. It was Taliban and war lords in 2001; it could return to Taliban and war lords. Or something different. Depends on how the events in the Arab Awakening are being read in Afghanistan. And where the strongest parts of the Afghan security forces place their loyalty when the US leaves.

If the government implodes, it just adds another layer of questioning as to what the hell we’re doing with 100,000 troops in that country. Calls to accelerate the withdrawal even further will result. The President affirmatively said in his speech last week that nation-building must begin at home. Perhaps this crisis will make those promises even more acute.

I find it convenient that this happens now and could very well see this as being played as a reason to stay so that Taliban/Al Qaeda don’t return things to how they used to be.